Today, A Rose Bloomed
by Riluta
Summary: A normal, Relatively new marine is thrust into combat to defend a city, and save as many lives as possible. but what happens when disaster strikes, and he's forced to brave through covenant by himself. or will he be alone? Maybe today, he'll find a rose.
1. Prologue

**Today a Rose Bloomed**

 ** _A/N:_** _just want to start out saying this story will contain a huge amount of original shit, planets, characters, ships, and dates that this occurred on, but a portion will remain canon to halo. But that's the point of a fan fiction, right? What if?_

 _Idk, either way please leave a review and enjoy._

 ** _oOo_**

 **Hurok II: 14/6/2535**

 _LOCATION. HUROK II. COVENANT FORCES CONFIRMED._

 _MULTIPLE CLASS STARSHIPS IDENTIFIED._

 _CARRIER. CORVETTE. BATTLE CRUSIER._

 _EVACUATION AND PLANATARY ABANDONMENT RECCOMENDED._

 _REINFORCEMENTS ONROUTE._

 _-UNSC Artificial intelligent 'serenity' processing information from orbital battle groups_

 ** _oOo_**

 **-UNSC Carrier,** ** _Warden: Hanger Bay…_**

Marines, pilots, and engineers crisscrossed through the bustling open bay, checking engines and gear, and each marine falling in line in front of their respected officer, followed by few 'Split-lips" here, "hoorahs" there, as they all gave their speeches. Each marine, whether they were jumpy or scared before, were now inspired and ready for the unknowing bloodshed ahead.

"PRIVATE!"

Eden was snapped out of his gaze, and averted it to a red faced sergeant.

"Are you paying attention son?!"

"uh-SIR YES SIR" Eden replied hastily.

"Get your shit together! Cause the Covenant sure won't give a damn if don't!" the Sargent spat.

Each marine was stoic, all lined up, armoured up and ready. The plan was simple, get to the surface, and help stationed platoons defend against the relentless ground forces, and evacuate as many civilians as possible, then plot a random slip space jump out of here. Something about charcoal protocol or something?

They'd have a rather good chance of success, since the current invasion force was rather small. Well small to the ones that invaded Harvest, or Chi Ceti IV, but still enough to decimate the current fleet in orbit, but we we're lucky enough to have a couple Defence platforms here and there.

"Alright! Let's get a move on marines, the Covies won't shoot themselves" the Sargent said with a smirk.

Marines started pouring into each pelican and albatross drop ships, accompanied by the clanking of boots against metal. Pilots checked their systems and shut the cargo doors and sealed them. We all strapped ourselves in and waited for the pelican to take off. One thing that didn't sit too well with Eden was space. Or well, the thought of being able to do nothing aboard a ship as plasma rips through the hull and melts the ship, and became anxious to get off this ship, and on the ground.

The subtle 'rumble-boom' sounded through the cabin as the engines finally came to life. Several marines noticeably flinched and tensed from the sound. And soon the brief feeling of weightlessness was felt, soon followed by pressing G forces as the pelican rocketed towards the surface.

 **oOo**

 **-Near the surface…**

"Get ready marines, those men down there have been barely holding out for the past couple days" the Sargent said as he broke the silence.

"They've held out this long only cause of those defence platforms, and right now, each evacuation point is station in the city's housing power houses for the guns. We loss them, we lose everything"

"Most of the populous should either be on their way to them, or already there, and we're on route to a nearby city now, so from there we'll help any civvies to the evac point so all we gotta do is help them there, then defend the position while we wait for fur-GAAHH!"

He yelled as the pelican was rocked violently and had a large section of it blown away, along with several marines, including the sergeant, as they were bathed in green plasma fire. Through the new window a few banshees were in pursuit of the damaged pelican. A series of bright blue bolts shoot out of the leading banshee, melting through the titanium armour. Already the heat inside the cabin was scorching from the plasma fire.

"MAYDAY MAYDAY, PELICAN GOING DOWN, I REPEAT PELICAN GOING DO-"

The pilot was silenced as another deathly green round shot forth and disintegrated a portion of the cockpit. Marines yelled and screamed, either from being splashed by plasma, or just from the shock of the situation. The back section of the cabin was breaking off from the lack of support, since a lot of rivets and plates were missing and melted away. How the pelican didn't explode yet, was beyond him.

The lack of stability, and pilots, sent the pelican crashing to the ground. The pelican smacked right into the ground, spraying dirt and soil in a violent flurry. The harness on Eden broke and was flung straight into the cabin wall, making a loud crack as he struck head first, and immediately fell unconscious…

 **oOo**

 **…..**

 ** _A/N:_**

So, planets under attack, evac civilians, kill elite here and there on the way, yeah blah blah blah, you get the idea. Anyway I know it was a bit short here, but I assure you the next shall be much longer, promise ;). But I hoped you enjoyed, and the next chapter shall be out very shortly.

Remember to fav, and pls pls pls leave a review, it shall benefit greatly for me, and helpful criticism, good or bad, will greatly be appreciated and help me improve my writing skills, but with that said please nothing like "your fucking shit, just stop already, no one likes your shitty shit shitness", i enjoy writing, and I'm always open to opinions on how I write. And yes yes I know, I self-inserted, sorry but I couldn't come up with a name.

Anyway, now, I must bid you, adieu.

3.


	2. A Seed Was Planted

**A/N:** Heyo, second chapter is here, quickly, and as promised, longer. Hope you guys enjoy the new instalment in this series. And also, im planning to make this a rather long story, just a heads up.

NOW, on with the story, enjoy. :D

 ** _Chapter 2:_**

 ** _-A Seed Was Planted-_**

 **-Unknown Location, Outside City…**

 **oOo**

Eden awoke as searing pain thumped through his skull, signalling he was still alive. He tried sitting up but immediately felt his ribs and head fight in protest from the sudden movement. He reached up and touched the back of his head and felt something sticky and slightly dry, pulling away to reveal dried blood.

With his vision still blurred from the blow to his head, he tried leaning against the wall to stand up, and felt his legs ready to buckle under his weight. Struggling to stand he tried calling for his squad mates.

"S-sarg?" Eden said.

Dead.

"Guys?"

Dead.

"Anyone?!"

Dead.

He looked around the cabin and saw the bodies of multiple marines, or what was left. Most had their body ripped away from the searing heat of plasma, making flesh slip from blackened bone. While others seemed to have died from the crash, apparent from the amounts of blood around and contorted limps. Seems he wasn't the only one who had his harness broken. Large portions of the pelican was broken or melted away, with some parts still crumbling and smoking.

Soft warning lights poking through from the cockpit told him the pelican still had some remaining cabin. Gathering his strength he pushed himself all the way up and made his way to the front, hoping to contact someone via radio. He's never really worked a radio, and he never bothered to listen during training. Frankly, how he even graduated from training, amazed him.

Sticking his head around the cockpit he noticed two things. 1. How bad cooked flesh smelt and 2. The slagging metal and sparking exposed wires hanging out of the surrounding frames and boards probably meant everything was broken, including the radio. So with his team dead, pelican destroyed, and no radio, he'd have to go out on foot to find a way to contact the rest of the UNSC, as he doubted the comms in his helmet we're powerful enough to contact anyone out further then a click.

Eden scavenged around the pelican for what he could, and found an assortment of goodies, 1 MA5 Assault rifle, as usual, 2 M6 magnums, and a simple med kit. There were a larger variety of weapons, but I didn't want to be slowed down, so he took a bit of extra ammo in favour, and headed outside.

He stopped at the opening and scanned the sky, it was already dark out, but he could faintly make out the zooming lights of banshees flying by. He waited till the sky was void of any lights and quickly went outside.

The pelican landed in forest and, thankfully, not too far from the city they were heading for. From this point he could make out the buildings there, along with several sections glowing a light orange.

 _'oh god it's on fire_ , _how long have I been out for?'_ He thought

With that he started

 **oOo**

The short trip quickly turned sour as covenant activity quickly picked up around the city, apparent from the multiple banshees and phantoms flying by. Eden was in almost full view when the first patrol shot over, making him scramble for cover under some trees.

 _'Fuck that was close! Great, more covenant in the city, exactly what I needed'_ He thought.

Almost immediately after, the sounds of plasma discharge and gunfire was heard in the distant, and the smell of fire filled the air.

 _'Shit there's someone still alive?, ok now I gotta move, fast!'_

He was fairly close by now, and could see the state of the city. Sections of buildings were reduced to rubble, smoking holes littered the ground along with alien and human bodies, the latter being the dominant one. The smell of fire was much more prominent now, apparent from the buildings and vehicles that were set alight.

He was halfway through the city searching for who caused the gunfire before, and if there still alive. Immediately he was greeted with what sounded like a child screaming 'ohgod!' from a nearby anyway and something else that sounded like someone scratching metal mesh.

When he rounded the corner he spotted the dead bodies of grunts, and a, were they called Jockey's? the looked akin to a bird, except with teeth, long limps and reptilian eyes. He also barely saw what looked like a person in the corner, though he couldn't really get a chance since they opened fire on him almost immediately, and scrambled behind a dumpster

"WOAH WOAH STOP! HUMAN, PERSON, FRIENDLY FRIENDLY!" He shouted

He heard the gun clatter to the ground, along with a heavy sigh, he looked around and saw it was a women. She looked fairly young, probably only in her 20's, maybe even younger. She had long black hair that draped over her shoulders, as well as flawless skin. Well, aside from the bright blue and red blood across her clothes and face. Her clothes were in tatters and she looked exhausted.

"I'm so s-sorry, I didn't think a-anybody else, was even a-alive" she puffed out

She was breathing heavily, and was struggling to string out a sentence, she could barely even hold that gun. She leaned against the wall behind her and slid down to the ground, burying her head in her knees.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he said, getting up from behind the dumpster

"Yea….yea I'm fine, um, i don't know, one second everything was fine, we were preparing to be evacuated to the next city, and then the next, people were screaming, there was blood everywhere, and I saw, 'them'" she said as she pointed to the bodies.

"it happened so quickly, those soldiers didn't stand a chance, there was just so many. I grabbed a gun from one of the dead ones…..and hid here" he could tell this was getting to her, and she was getting upset, he didn't want to see her cry.

"Hey look its ok, your alive, we can still make it out of here as well" he said

She looked up at him, her cheeks already stained with tears, her blue eyes glistening from the light. She had bags under eyes, she must've been crying a lot beforehand.

"What's your name? you can call me Eden" he said in a soft tone, offering a hand to help her up, she took his armoured hand, and got her legs under her as she stood up.

"Thank you, my names Rosie"

 **oOo**

 **A/N:** And finally the companion to our protagonist is revealed, or will she be _just_ a companion. I think youll find out soon enough in later chapters. And firstly I want to apologise for not making this chapter _that_ much longer, I was having trouble thinking by the end of it and decided to end it here, but I promise as the chapters go on, they'll start to get longer, I assure you. But hope you enjoyed, and please remember to leave a review and a favourite, I would appreciate it so much.

Anyway see you next time, bye bye.

 **:3 3**


	3. The Seed, begins to sprout

**Wow….4 years, it's been awhile. Sorry if any of you actually wanted this story to continue, i just kinda, forgot about it. But nonetheless, i'm starting it again, and hopefully i'll be able to post between every 2 days to every week, depending on how busy i am, sorry i can't give a more concrete posting schedule, but now, here's something that you've been waiting on, for a long time…**

 _ **-**_ **On Board** _ **Eternal Glory**_ **Assault Carrier-**

Humans...a resilient species they were. Technologically surpassed and yet they could still put up surprising resistance and willpower, unwilling to die in the face of an overwhelming force.

' _A species deserving of honour and respect_ ' Huro'dum thought, reclining with a thumb on his mandible, on his seat of metaphorical and literal power. Looking over his crew of fellow brother Sangheili, each at their station, scanning through reports, logistics, communications, scans, all working hard at the sudden call for war on the planet. Truth be told Huro'dum never expected to find a colony of Humans on this planet, although considering their vastness in colonization it's not too surprising. ' _Humans'_ he thought ' _never a dull moment'._

"Ra'shun!" he ordered "any reports from _Blade in Darkness_?" being their corvette, they had longer range scanners then his own, or even the battle cruisers scanners, so the role of reconnaissance fell to them, and seeing as their mission was to search for holy artifacts, they fit the role perfectly.

"No Shipmaster! Nothing of the holy forerunners, only reports of human settlements" Ra'shun returned, swiping through various reports and scans on his holoscreen "there could be a possibility the humans have found the relic, it would explain why our scanners are unable to pick up any trace".

"Heretics!" Huro'dum yells as he slammed his fist into his chair "they dare desecrate a holy relic?!" Huro'dum may respect the humans, but his ultimate goal, is the great journey. And nothing will stand in his, or the prophets way. And the heresy of these humans sullying an artifact such as this makes his blood boil. "Have _Holy Sanction_ move in as close as possible and unload all troops they can. I want the humans exterminated and the relic recovered!"

"Yes Shipmaster" they call out in unison while carrying out their orders at their respective stations.

Huro'dum looks up at the relatively blue and green planet, a scowl somehow making its way on his mandibles, and while the recovery of the sacred artifacts was his priority, the heresy of the humans could not go unpunished. ' _The humans dare shelter a holy relic? They shall come to regret their actions_ ' a single thought comes to the forefront of his mind calming him slightly in preparation ' _for the great journey_ '.

 **-Unknown City on** _ **Hurok II-**_

The moon was still high in the sky, casting soft moonlight and small shadows through the desolate streets of the city, once skyscrapers were now no more the topled smoldering buildings, some lining the street. The city was hit rather hard for some odd reason, but Eden merely brushed it off as the covenant just being themselves, nothing out of the ordinary.

Even being a marine, Eden was starting to feel tired, so he could only imagine how Rosie was feeling, especially after going through the assault and coming off the adrenaline she no doubt experienced. Seeing people getting slaughtered in the streets would do that…

"How you holding up?" Eden asked, glancing at rosie who was staring at the ground. She was still slightly jumpy as she startled by the sudden noise.

"Huh?..oh u-um, fine, yea im a-alright, i just want to get out of here" she replied, once again looking at the ground.

"It'll be okay, we will, on my way here i was told there was large defences set up at some major cities, one of which should be north of here" he replied with a reassuring smile, which was soon taken away with a thumb on his chin, "although i'm not sure how far. Our pelican crashed before we got here" remembering the death of his comrades.

"C-crashed? But what happened to your friends?" Rosie asked finally looking up from the ground

"...they died, either in the crash or from when we were attacked... i'm pretty sure i'm the only one who survived" Eden didn't know any of his squad, he'd only just been placed into it a few weeks ago, and even then he didn't really try to get to know anyone, he kinda just kept to himself, though now, he at least wished he knew the names of the fallen.

"Im...im so sorry, i didn't mean to bring it up…" she replied

"It's okay, you didn't know, i didn't know them anyway...but anyway, we should probably get off the streets, there's no telling how many of the covenant are left in the city, we wouldn't be able to stand a chance" not only that but they could probably navigate in the dark a lot better then they can.

"Oh, uh, well maybe we could rest in a nearby building somewhere?" she asked looking around for a viable place.

"Hmm, i dont think thats a good idea, if there even are any left in the city, it'll likely be search parties, the type of ones that look for any survivors, the mop up crew" he replied shaking his head, Eden might not of been great at combat, but he liked to think he had good instincts when it comes to surviving. "Not only that but there's a good chance their scanners might be able to pick us up when they're close enough, our best bet would be getting out of the city in into the forest, or a cave, do you know this city well?"

"Well kinda, um, from here i think a few streets ahead is the Terra Highway, it's one of the main ones in the city, but there are a lot of buildings and alleyways along it, we could use those to go north like you said" alleyways? Well it's better than walking in the middle of the highway out in the open, but if they'd have less visibility in there, so if they bump into anything, they'd have to fight. Still, better then being picked off by a sniper.

"That's probably our best option then,lead the way, good work" he said with a smile. The sudden praise causing her to smile and blush, reddening her already rosy cheeks. _' hah, rosie is rosy'_

" g-glad to help, um, well it's just this way" she said, walking in front of him and leading him along the streets. Eden being himself, tried with all his willpower, but couldn't help but enjoy the view

"Huh….i mean ugh, dammit eden" he grumbled to himself finally averting his gaze.

Hearing something, she turned around curiously, "what was that?"

Edens heart almost leapt in his throat "guh, um, nothing, just uh, counting my ammo and all that" he said with a big grin and a wave of the hand.

"Oh, ok then, well uh, the highways just up ahead" she replied raising an eyebrow.

"Oh * _cough_ * ok great, right" he said quickly. Rosie wondered about his sudden change of attitude, but quickly dismissed it as they started down the long alleyways. They had a long night, and an even longer journey ahead of them.

 **-Outskirts of city-**

The new Duo had finally made their way out of the burning city, and ahead of them stood a veritable forest, with a mountain range to the west and what was assumed a coast to the east.

Eden breathed a sigh of relief, finally making it out. Turns out there was still patrols in the city, and having more than one close call with either jockeys or those big guys. Elites, he believed they were called. Thankfully they were able to scramble to cover or a hiding place before they were discovered, although one jockey decided to do his own thing a split off from his group, heading straight for where the two were hiding.

Edens breath immediately hitched in his throat, as the sentry made his way over, he could tell rosie noticed as well because she tried grabbing onto his arm and shoulder. While he wanted to let her cling on and do the same, he had to act quickly of the others could be alerted to their position...and they wouldn't be able to stand a chance. So while thanking any god that it was a small reptile thing, and not some asshole with a personal shield, Eden pulled away from her grasp and drew his knife, silently creeping to the edge of their hiding place, which admittedly was just a dumpster and a few boxes, he turned and looked at rosie and placed a finger to his lips, silently telling her to not make a sound.

Turning back around he waiting until the jockey just barely started to make it past the dumpster. Knife in his right Eden quickly dashed to the alien, using his left hand to grasp hard around the things beak. Quickly pulling back he drove the knife straight into the base of its spine, slightly lifting it into the air, surprisingly these things were lighter than expected, when the knife reached its base he gave it a quick and sudden twist, hopefully slicing the spinal cord.

The alien's reptile like eyes widened as it tried gasping at the unexpected pain exploding in his spine, only to find it was being strangled of oxygen. Thankfully in the commotion the jockey dropped its carbine, so it was unable to fire off warning shots for its team. The alien tried struggling against its attacker, only to find its legs no longer responding to command, leaving it only able to struggle against the armoured glove over its beak. Eden, feeling fighting back, decided to rip out the knife and plunge it higher into its back, blood spurting out of the newly opened wound left behind, spraying edens lower chest and legs in purple blood.

Seconds after the its body realised the new mortal wound, its struggles became naught, its muffled cries ceased, its eyes finally lifeless and glazed over. Eden slowly let the body drop, and dragged into further into the corner to avoid being found. Looking over he saw rosie looking at him with wide eyes, hands over her mouth. She knew these things had to be killed, otherwise they'd face the same fate, but seeing such a death, one so brutal happen right in front of her rattled her a bit. And seeing all that blood pool out, and seeing him drenched in it, frightened her, watching somethings life just be snuffed out like that, no mercy, no chance.

Eden knew what she was feeling after seeing that, he wasn't knew to death or blood, he experienced his fair share when he was younger...much younger, he scared her and he knew it.

Slowly raising his hands "rosie it's okay, i'm sorry you had to see that, we're safe now and that's all that matters" he whispered, hoping to calm the girl down.

"I-i know…..it's just, all t-that..blood, i just…" she choked, finally looking away. Eden saw her distress and moved closer hoping to comfort her in some way. Just before he tried hugging her, he looked down with his arms outstretched

"Oh, well, i'm sorry, i'd try giving you a hug...but uh i'm a bit dirty" eden chuckled trying to lighten the mood. She looked back at him, removing her hands, and looked at the blood staining his armor and bodysuit, although instead of recoiling at the sight, she simply moved forward, and ignoring the blood, brought him into a hug, and buryied her face into the nook of his neck.

' _Ok i was not expecting this reaction to someone soaked in blood'_ he chuckled to himself, but nonetheless returned the embrace, his arms wrapping around her and bringing her closer.

"It's fine….thank you" she whispered into his ear. He smiled softly at this and just continued holding her, enjoying her warmth and comfort…..until he realised that they were still the city and still in danger, and quickly pulled away.

"Sorry, but we should really get moving again, looks like the patrol moved on by, but they'll be back soon wondering where their friend his, so we don't have much time" he said, sheathing his knife and started moving down the alleyway.

But now, he was glad to be out, now they could finally search for a place to rest, and hopefully eat. Thankfully he still had an MRE for such an occasion, and he REALLY hoped it was roast chicken, or at the very least not corned meat, that shit is nasty.

"Finally, now, we should probably put some distance between us and the city, then we should be able to find a spot to rest for the night" he said, flipping through frequencies in his helmets radio, sadly, he turned up nothing _'tck….figures'._

"Oh, well there should be a park camping ground about 30 minutes from here, ma and a few friends used to go out there, although we didn't really camp there... but it's still a very nice park" she said, stirring the dirt with her foot at the last part "the should also be a few camping vans there that people sometimes"

Eden grinned, once again thank whatever gods were watching for giving a decent place to sleep at... he also slipped in a quick thank you for being with quite possibly the cutest girl he's ever seen…..

"Sweet, looks like we know where we're sleeping tonight" he replied, hiding his grin "sorry to keep doing this, but lead the way"

"It's alright, the paths down this side of the city aren't traveled often by vehicles, so there are actually a lot of tracks, it'd be easy to get lost in here" she replied while walking down one of the tracks.

 **-Later-**

About 20 minutes pass by in silence, but comfortable silence, the atmosphere didn't feel like those times where you'd sit down with in the mess hall and ask 'how is everyone?' only for them to start awkwardly getting up and moving….leaving you with one guy sitting across from you…...now that time during training was awkward.

But here, they simply enjoyed the walk, seeing the different plants and trees in the moons glow, gentle shadows stretching down the path, cool breezes passing through the trees and their branches, loosening the many leaves from its limbs, causing the different varieties of leaves to be swept away, practically dancing in the wind as gets tossed away. It must of been close to autumn from the amount of dark coloured leaves leaving the trees, and the crisp cool wind sweeping through them, all in all it was breathtaking. Eden turned to rosie, and was about to voice his opinion on the lovely night…...and immediately his voice died in his throat.

When he turned to rosie his breath was now truly taken away, she ignored his wide eyes and sudden gasp. He ice blue eyes simply set on the moon, a smile of genuine happiness upon her lips. Her long black hair flailing and moving in the gentle breeze, the light casting soft shadows across her rosy face and figure.

"...jesus…" he instinctively said, not even noticing he said anything, but someone did.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" rosie said, looking down from the moon at him, her smile still etched onto her lips.

' _Shit!'_ "oh uh, no, just wondering how close we are is all" he chuckled and mentally kicked himself.

"Oh well we should be pretty close now, should be just up ahead" she said looking back up at the moon.

And she was right, just like she said, the camp was just up ahead. From the looks of it it was pretty abandoned, and quickly. Tents were still up, clothes, gear, even some food was still left behind, although the food didn't really look alright to eat. Just further into the camp, eden spotted the few camper vans rosie mentioned, and they looked decent size as well, looking like they could house a bed or 2 and possibly a simple kitchen area.

"Wow, looks like everyone upped and left in a hurry" rosie said looking down at a few of the tents.

"Yea, hopefully they caught wind of what was happening in the city and left before any of them showed up here" eden said, moving towards one of the nearby camper vans, not really caring for which one he chooses, instead just wanting to get some rest after tonight "come on, we should probably get some rest, we need to move as soon as possible to the base up north"

Rosie simply nodded and followed Eden inside the camper. Inside the camper van was just like eden predicted, towards the front at the door, was a simple kitchen, a small cupboard, bench, mini fridge and a small sink, just barely fitting in the corner. The other half of the van was 2 double beds placed one on top of one another, complete with comfy looking blankets and a pair of pillows.

"Sweeeeet!" eden sighed as he did his best to flop onto the bottom bed, avoiding hitting his head on the top bed, and having already removed his armor and bodysuit, leaving him in his tank top and boxers. "*sigh* well, we should catch some shut eye, need to move early in the morning"

Rosie blushed at his sudden…..missing attire, but ignored it as best she could "um, yeah, sure, i guess i'll have top-" her statement was cut off as her stomach angrily rumbled its complaints. Embarrassed rosie covered her stomach and looked away slightly. "Um….i'm a bit hungry, d-do you think the things the other campers left behind would be alright"

"Hmm, no i don't think so, a lot of it was left open anyway, i wouldn't risk it" hearing the denial of food seemed to have visibly dampen rosies mood. Seeing this eden quickly came up with a solution "but! I do have some on me, not a lot, but should be more than enough for us until we get to the base" he said pulling out the MRE from his collection of gear on the floor and started opening it. Rosies face immediately brightened at the thought of food, but her smile soon turned to one of concern.

"Wait, are you sure? Will there be enough for you?" she said, voicing her concerns. Eden nodded and looked at the MRE once it was opened, and mentally cheered. It was roast chicken. ' _Fuck yes!_ ' he thought.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, there should be enough" giving rosie a reassuring wave, and gestured her to sit next to him. "Come sit, we hit the jackpot with this one" he cheers as he holds it up with a big grin "it's roast chicken!"

"Well if your sure, and that does sound delicious right now" she replied, eyeing the food, hunger evident in her eyes, in fact if it wasn't for her concern of how much there was, and the fact it wasn't hers, she would of inhaled the entire thing within seconds.

"Oh please, really it's fine, now let's dig in!" rosie nods and takes her portion of each packet, all held on a makeshift plate. And with that, they chowed down on their meal, relishing the flavour of food in their stomachs, even if it was somewhat bland, but UNSC meals always favoured nutrition rather than flavour, but it helps when it tastes like chicken.

Soon after, the pair finally settle in their respective bunks, both tired but happy for the food. Night continues drifting by, soundless beside the rustle of leaves in the gentle winds, and small ruffling of sheets… _'wait, sheets? Why is she movi-GAH!"_ Eden flinches slightly when he feels someone crawl under the covers and snuggles close to him. Looking down, he sees rosie has decided to use him as a pillow, who seemed to have fallen asleep as soon as she got comfortable.

"Um….rosie?" Eden asks, slightly nudging her.

"..."

"...*sigh* lovely" he says finally giving up, and wrapping an arm around her. The sudden embrace causes rosie to snuggle closer, a small smile making its way onto both their faces, and one starting to drift back to sleep...while the other mentally cheers at her success and also begins falling asleep.

As eden drifts off, two thoughts go through his mind, ' _i wish i had more of that potato mash'_ and _'i hope she stays safe"._ And finally, sleep emcompases his mind, making him a dream of swimming through a land of mash potato and roast chicken. A wide grin spreads on his face.


End file.
